A connection between alternating sign matrices and totally symmetric self- complementary plane partitions (Q1318369)

The author has obtained a lattice path interpretation for totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions. This is the first step in solving the long standing problem of enumerating such plane partitions. Another outstanding problem is to find a bijection between alternating sign matrices and totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions. This study and the work of Stembridge and Andrews resulted in the proof of \[ A_ n = \prod^{n-1}_{i=0} {(3i+1)! \over(n+i)!}, \] where \(A_ n\) is equal to the number of totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions of order \(n\). This was first conjectured by Mills, Robbins and Rumsey. This study converts counting these plane partitions into counting a certain class of non-intersecting lattice paths. Stembridge converts counting the lattice paths into evaluating a determinant and Andrews evaluated the determinant. Using different techniques Kuperberg has proved that the number of cyclically symmetric self-complementary plane partitions of order \(n\) equals \(A^ 2_ n\). From the lattice path interpretation, a new statistic on totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions is discovered which corresponds to the position of the 1 in the top row of an alternating sign matrix under such a bijection.